Closing Bell: Nifty ends above 18,000, Sensex gains 562 pts; PSU banks underperform

Manish Shah, Independent Technical Analyst

Nifty breaks the barrier of utter slothfulness and ends up the day with a net gain of 158 points. The market rallied strongly towards the latter part of the day with a healthy ratio of advances vs declines.

Nifty holds above the support at 17800 and a series of equal lows makes it a “tweezer bottom” pattern. The moot point is if a major low is in and Nifty is likely to see a rally from here.

Nifty has just closed above its 20-day moving average, which placed at 18034. The crossover of the average is with a long green candle which is a bullish sign. If Nifty manages to hold above this resistance we could see a rally towards 18500.

Nifty is at an important inflexion point where Nifty offers a big risk to reward ratio. With international markets moving higher bulls could very well see a grand Jan expiry.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities

Nifty remained volatile throughout the day before closing on a strong note. On the daily chart, the benchmark Nifty has given a falling wedge breakout, suggesting a rise in optimism.

The RSI momentum indicator has indicated a falling trendline breakout.

The current technical setup suggests near-term strength, which may take the Nifty towards 18,250–18,270. On the lower end, support is visible at 17,850.

Kunal Shah, Senior Technical Analyst at LKP Securities

The Bank Nifty index continued to witness volatile moves, and it ended on a flat note. The index is stuck in a broad range between 41,800 and 42,700, and a break on either side will lead to trending moves.

The second half of the session belonged to the bulls, and if the momentum has to be maintained, it has to surpass the level of 42,400, where the immediate resistance is visible.

Jatin Gedia, Technical Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas

The Nifty witnessed a late surge which helped it to close with gains of 158 points. More importantly it has managed to close above the 20-day moving average (18,035) which is a sign of strength.

The daily and hourly momentum indicator has a positive crossover which is a buy signal. Thus, all parameters are suggesting towards a sharp up move over the next few trading sessions.

In terms of levels 17,880 – 17,850 shall act as a crucial support zone while 18,280 – 18,300 shall act as an immediate hurdle zone for the Nifty.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

The domestic market is attempting to gain, in comparison to its weak YTD performance, which was caused in anticipation of a soft Q3 result & union budget.

We started the third quarter results on a shaky note, but the latest set of financial announcements from IT and banking blue chips are encouraging.

Heavy weights are also pushing the counter, including the fact of the fall in windfall tax. Given the positive undercurrents, the trend should continue in the short term. However, a lot will depend on the second line of Q3 results, the budget outcome, and the Fed policy statement.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities

Markets were extremely lacklustre with a negative bias in the last few sessions and global indices were witnessing an upward bias due to hopes of demand revival following the reopening of China and cooling inflation data in the US.

Indian markets also rallied back sharply as we had missed the recent upsurge, although the undertone remains cautious to negative bias.

Even as the global economic scenario is seen bleak, investors are hoping the forthcoming Budget would announce some measures to boost the economy to overcome some of the challenges.

Technically, the market has formed bullish candle on daily charts and higher bottom formation on intraday charts, which is indicating further uptrend from the current levels.

For the trend following traders, 17,950 would act as a strong support zone, and above which the index could move up to 18,100-18,200 levels. On the other hand, below 17,950, uptrend would be vulnerable and the index could slip till 17,900-17,850.

Rupee Close:

Indian rupee ended 16 paise lower at 81.77 per dollar against previous close of 81.61.

Market Close

: Indian benchmark indices ended higher on January 17 with Nifty above 18,000.

At Close, the Sensex was up 562.75 points or 0.94% at 60,655.72, and the Nifty was up 158.50 points or 0.89% at 18,053.30. About 1641 shares have advanced, 1764 shares declined, and 133 shares are unchanged.

L&T, HUL, HDFC, HCL Technologies and HDFC Bank were among the top gainers on the Nifty, while losers included SBI, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Wipro and Tata Steel.

On the sectoral front, realty, energy, infra, power, capital goods and FMCG gained 1 percent each, while PSU bank index shed nearly 2 percent.

The BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended flat.

Pharma firms Innova Captab, Blue Jet Healthcare get Sebi nod to go public

Pharmaceutical companies Innova Captab and Blue Jet Healthcare have received approval from the capital markets regulator to go ahead with their IPO plans.

The Innova Captab public issue comprises a fresh issue of Rs 400 crore and an offer-for-sale of 96 lakh equity shares by promoters.

Another CDMO business operator Blue Jet Healthcare is also now ready to launch its public issue that comprises only an offer for sale of 2.16 crore equity shares by promoters Akshay Bansarilal Arora, and Shiven Akshay Arora. It is 100 percent owned by promoters.

Sharekhan View on Federal Bank:

Maintains 'buy' rating on Federal Bank with a revised price target of Rs 170.

The broking firm believes the bank is well poised to sustain RoA of 1.2-1.3 percent over the medium term. It believes the bank has fewer levers to surprise positively from here on except on the operating leverage. However, a reversal in return ratios is unlikely and asset-quality outlook is stable for the sector.

Sharekhan believes now consistent steady performance could drive re-rating in the stock.

Jefferies keeps 'Buy' on Reliance Industries

-Buy rating, target at Rs 3,100 per share
-Government approved the green hydrogen mission
-Phase 1 will focus on existing hydrogen users & electrolyser capacity creation
-Phase 2 will focus on new customer industries
-Initial incentives of Rs 19,740 crore is dwarfed by subsidies announced by the US & Europe
-Any meaningful cap subsidy to RIL should aid USD 8 billion valuation of its green H2 foray

Reliance Industries was quoting at Rs 2,479.10, up Rs 34.40, or 1.41 percent on the BSE.

Gland Pharma Large Trade | 5.52 lakh shares (0.33% equity) worth Rs 78.55 crore change hands at an average of Rs 1,420 per share

WhiteOak Capital Mutual Fund launches Balanced Advantage Fund

WhiteOak Capital Mutual Fund today announced the launch of their new fund offer (NFO) - ‘WhiteOak Capital Balanced Advantage Fund’.

The NFO will be open from 20th January - 3rd February 2023.

This is an open-ended dynamic asset allocation scheme investing in equities (65-100%), arbitrage (0-50%), and debt/cash in the range of 0-35% with weight of net equities in the range of 30-80%. The performance of this NFO is benchmarked against BSE Sensex TRI.

Market at 3 PM

Benchmark indices were trading near the day's high with Nifty above 18,000.

The Sensex was up 492.60 points or 0.82% at 60,585.57, and the Nifty was up 137.60 points or 0.77% at 18,032.40.About 1430 shares have advanced, 1817 shares declined, and 120 shares are unchanged.

Tinplate Company of India Q3 profit drops 62%

Tinplate Company of India has recorded a 62% year-on-year decline in profit at Rs 36.4 crore for quarter ended December FY23, impacted by lower top line and operating income. Revenue from operations for the quarter at Rs 959.9 crore fell by nearly 19% compared to year-ago period.

Prabhudas Lilladher View on Federal Bank

Reiterates 'buy' and raises the target price to Rs 175 from Rs 165.

The bank again surpassed its previous quarter best, with core earnings at Rs 7.75 bn, beating broking house estimates by 16 percent led by NIM beat which came in at 3.89 percent (PLe 3.66 percent) as funding cost was lower at 4.9 percent (PLe 5.1 percent)

Bank further raised steady state NIM guidance from 3.30 percent to 3.35-3.40 percent. Fee income in 9MFY23 has risen by 43 percent to Rs 12.9 billion and the bank expects current run-rate to continue.

The brokerage house has increased the FY23 PAT by 6 percent and FY24/25E PAT by 2 percent each.

Federal Bank was quoting at Rs 137.55, down Rs 2.70, or 1.93 percent on the BSE.

Priyanka Aggarwal, Managing Director & Partner at BCG India

India pharma market is $48-50 bn today – poised to become $90-120 bn by 2030. This vision can be achieved through 5 pillars - Discover In India; Make in India; Promoting Wellness; Enhancing Health Equity and Creating a Knowledge Economy.

Towards this vision; the budget can create enabling policies and incentives. Specifically, supportive policies to encourage R&D – i.e. funding support, fueling the talent ecosystem would help the industry invest more in R&D. More allocations towards PLI and encouraging more domestic production of APIs and KSMs will help towards Make in India.

Reducing duties on nutraceuticals will help boost wellness sector. Finally, increased overall allocation towards health is much required – in creating a new normal in the post-COVID healthcare sector and first post-COVID budget.

Amarendra Sahu, CEO, of Nestaway Technologies

The Union Budget should focus on rental housing. This can address the issue of the shortage of housing units in urban India. With the development of new cities, jobs are moving away from the traditional hotspots, thereby increasing the demand for quality homes in the urban hotspots. In 2020, the government proposed affordable rental housing complexes. There is a need to expand it to achieve the government of India's dream of housing for all. ARHC can help keep rentals in check, especially in metro areas.

The government should look at providing further relief to homeowners in the form of tax breaks on income earned via rent. Homebuyers should get a full tax rebate on interest paid on home loans and a boost in the limit to set off a loss under the income tax heading for house property.

The long-standing demand for giving real estate an industry status will help with low-cost funding. This will also help with liquidity and finding new funding sources for stalled projects.

Most active share on NSE in terms of volumes

European Markets Updates

Metro Brands Q3

Net profit was up 10.6% at Rs 112 crore against Rs 101.3 crore (YoY). Revenue rose 23.8% at Rs 598.7 crore against Rs 483.7 crore (YoY). EBITDA was up 22.3% at Rs 205.2 crore against Rs 167.8 crore (YoY). EBITDA margin at 34.3% against 34.7% (YoY). The company's Board announced interim dividend of Rs 2.5 per share.

Market update at 2 PM

Sensex is up 297.19 points or 0.49% at 60390.16, and the Nifty added 80 points or 0.45% at 17974.80.

Motilal Oswal Financial Services View on Federal Bank

The broking house has maintained the 'buy' rating on the stock with a target at Rs 170 per share.

The stock is a preferred pick among midcap banks. The robust NII and controlled provisions drive the earnings.

The broking house raises estimates by 5-7 percent as build in higher margin and provisions and estimate it to deliver a RoA/RoE of 1.3 percent/15.2 percent in FY25, reported CNBC-TV18.

Federal Bank was quoting at Rs 137.00, down Rs 3.25, or 2.32 percent.

Avinash Pathak, Research Analyst at LKP Securities.

FMCG stocks have shown some recovery on the back of easing inflation and anticipation of better margins ahead. However, on the demand front, no incremental improvement or deterioration in underlying demand trends across urban or rural markets is expected.

Rural demand is likely to remain tepid due to continued inflationary pressures on rural consumers’ wallets, which would result in down trading to smaller packs and brands.

Nifty PSU Bank index fell 2.5 percent dragged by Bank of India, Punjab and Sind Bank, UCO Bank

Ashwin Patil, Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities

Defence sector, as every year before the budget has a wishlist out of which the important one is outlay for emphasis on indigenisation, which means emphasis on local production. The GOI definitely does a lot for the sector every year, also on the R&D side where they plan to spend a substantial amount.

Therefore even this year we expect them to announce a significant budget for the space and research, electronic equipments and advancement on further localization.

On PLI schemes we would say that the GOI is fostering healthy competition in the defence space through launching various PLI schemes.
This would surely improve the quality of defence products and services and further enhance the defence sector.

Also the country needs to improve on their space research, due to which we believe that further PLI schemes will be more focused on Space research.

Network 18 Media & Investments Q3 

Network 18 Media & Investments has reported 11.6 percent jump in its Q3 revenue at Rs 1,850.5 crore versus Rs 1,657.4 crore.

Oil Prices mixed

Oil prices were mixed on Tuesday after China posted its weakest annual economic growth in nearly half a century, with its late-2022 U-turn in COVID-19 policy underpinning hopes of a recovery in the country's fuel demand this year.

Brent crude futures edged up by 7 cents, or 0.1%, to $84.52 by 0727 GMT, recouping some of the 1% loss in the previous session.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slid 73 cents, or 0.9%, to $79.15 from Friday's close. There was no settlement on Monday because of the U.S. public holiday for Martin Luther King Day.

Octanom launches Algorithm powered advisory platform HEDGED

InvesTech startup, Octanom Tech has launched its first machine powered platform – Hedged, which will provide investment and trading solutions to retail investors powered by a combination of algorithms and actual interest (AI).

The company claimed that Hedged will give traders hedged options trades powered by a combination of proprietary Algorithms. Its in-built Nifty crash meter is designed to forecast the onset of a crash or an up-move before it happens and helps investors position their portfolios accordingly.

Newgen Software Q3 net profit up 59% at Rs 48.2 crore 

Newgen Software Technologies was quoting at Rs 397.05, down Rs 7.85, or 1.94 percent on the BSE.

Morgan Stanley view on Federal Bank

The brokerage firm has kept the 'overweight' rating on the stocks and raised the target price to Rs 175 per share.

Core PPoP growth of 52 percent on-year, was 8 percent above the estimates and NII growth was a big surprise led by higher margins.

The management raised the NIM/RoA guidance for FY24, while broking firm raised EPS estimates by 5-12 percent in FY23/24, reported CNBC-TV18.

Market at 1 PM

Benchmark indices erased some of the intraday gains but still trading higher with Nifty around 17950.

The Sensex was up 274.34 points or 0.46% at 60367.31, and the Nifty was up 64.20 points or 0.36% at 17959. About 1394 shares have advanced, 1789 shares declined, and 131 shares are unchanged.

Glenmark Pharma launches Sacubitril + Valsartan tablets in India

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals launched the sacubitril + valsartan tablets in India, for the treatment of heart failure.

Marketed under the brand name ‘Sacu V’, it must be taken twice daily under doctor’s prescription. Its approved indication is to reduce the risk of cardiovascular related deaths and hospitalisations for patients with chronic heart failure (NYHA class II‐IV) with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).

Glenmark Pharma was quoting at Rs 415.50, down Rs 4.45, or 1.06 percent.

Bank Of India Q3 Results:

Bank of India has reported 12 percent jump in its Decemebr quarter net profit at Rs 1,151 crore versus Rs 1,027.4 crore.

Net Interest Income of the company was up 64.2% at Rs 5,594.3 crore versus Rs 3,408 crore, YoY.

Bank Of India was quoting at Rs 90.80, down Rs 7.00, or 7.16 percent.

Swan Energy raises stake in Veritas India to 43.58%

Veritas (India): Investor Swan Energy has raised its stake in the company to 43.58%, up from 40.54% earlier. Swan has bought 3.04% stake in Veritas on January 13 via open market transactions. Promoter Niti Nitinkumar Didwania was the seller.

Swan Energy was quoting at Rs 325.00, up Rs 1.50, or 0.46 percent.

Veritas has touched 52-week high of Rs 256.05 and was quoting at Rs 256.05, up Rs 5.00, or 1.99 percent.

BSE Capital Goods index rose 1 percent led by L&T, CG Power, Praj Industries

Nirmal Bang View on Federal Bank

The brokerage house maintained the 'buy' rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 166.

The bank posted a strong Q3 FY23 performance, driven by margin expansion and lower provisions. Asset quality improved on a sequential basis while slippages inched up marginally.

The management upgraded its full-year RoA forecast to 1.25 percent and endeavours to increase it by 10bps in FY24.

Federal Bank was quoting at Rs 139.15, down Rs 1.10, or 0.78 percent on the BSE.

TV18 Broadcast Q3 Results

TV18 Broadcast has posted 12.8 percent jump in its Q3 operating revenue at Rs 1,768 crore versus Rs 1,567 crore, YoY.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) down 94.8% at Rs 18.6 crore versus Rs 354.8 crore and EBITDA margin was at 1.1% versus 22.7%, YoY.

TV18 Broadcast was quoting at Rs 36.50, down Rs 0.55, or 1.48 percent on the BSE.

Mastek Q3 Earnings:

The company has posted 18.8 percent fall in its Q3FY23 net profit at Rs 64.2 crore versus Rs 79.1 crore and revenue was up 5.3% at Rs 658.6 crore versus Rs 625.3 crore, QoQ.

Yen near 7-month high as BOJ decision looms

The dollar drifted above multi-month lows on Tuesday, while the yen was perched near seven-month highs as investors held their breath for a potential policy shift at the Bank of Japan.

The euro, which reached a nine-month high on Monday at $1.0874, was last loitering around $1.0825.

The yen hit a top of 127.22 per dollar during Asia hours on Monday, before steadying around 128.69 on Tuesday. Options trade shows a market braced for sharp moves when the Bank of Japan (BOJ) concludes a two-day meeting on Wednesday, with overnight implied volatility surging to a six-year high.

Asia share losses widen after weak China GDP data

Asian share losses widened on Tuesday after China reported weak fourth-quarter economic data, although investor expectations for a strong rebound in the country remained high even as concerns increase that the global economy is heading for a recession.

London is set to open flat with FTSE futures up 0.02% at 0512 GMT. E-mini futures for the S&P 500 index were down 0.31% however, indicating a lower opening after Monday's public holiday.

MSCI's gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan increased its losses to stand down 0.65% at 0535 GMT.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 1.22% and China's benchmark CSI300 Index slid 0.27% following the China data and as invesotrs sold gains ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday starting on Jan. 21.

China's economy grew 2.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022 from a year earlier, National Bureau of Statistics data showed on Tuesday, beating expectations but still underlining the toll exacted by a stringent "zero-COVID" policy.

Market at 12 PM

Benchmark indices were trading near the day's high with Nifty around 18000.

The Sensex was up 412.32 points or 0.69% at 60505.29, and the Nifty was up 110.60 points or 0.62% at 18005.40. About 1538 shares have advanced, 1583 shares declined, and 153 shares are unchanged.

FSC approves transfer of Griha shares from HDFC Holdings to HDFC Bank

Financial Services Commission (FSC), Mauritius has approved transfer of Griha Investments shares from HDFC Holdings to HDFC Bank for merger.

Griha Investments is a wholly-owned subsidiary of HDFC Holdings and a foreign step-down subsidiary of Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC).

Housing Development Finance Corporation was quoting at Rs 2,625.35, up Rs 30.60, or 1.18 percent on the BSE.

Here is the list of stocks that have touched their 52-week highs during the day; click to view more